A state judge Tuesday ordered the ballot language of Proposition 23 — a November measure that would suspend California’s landmark global warming law — to be rewritten, handing a victory to supporters of the measure who said Attorney General Jerry Brown wrote misleading and biased wording.

Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Timothy Frawley ruled in favor of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, which filed the lawsuit last week.

Under Frawley’s ruling, the phrase “major polluters” must be replaced with “major sources of emissions.” He also said the title and summary of the measure cannot say that it would “abandon” California’s greenhouse gas laws, but rather would “suspend” them, among other changes.

Frawley sided with supporters of the measure who argued that the word “polluters” is prejudiced because the laws affect lots of sources of carbon dioxide and because voters typically think of smog, not greenhouse gases, in that context. Opponents of the measure argued that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that carbon dioxide is a pollutant that can be regulated by the U.S. EPA under the Clean Air Act.

“We’re obviously very pleased,” said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. “When we first read the title and summary it struck as extraordinarily biased.”

Coupal said the ruling should help improve the chances that the measure will pass.

Brown’s office, which is responsible for writing the title and summary of state ballot initiatives, said it would not appeal the decision.

“While we prefer the words we used in our version of the title and summary, the judge’s revisions — such as changing ‘major polluters’ to ‘major sources of emissions’ — did not substantially alter the substance,” said Christine Gasparac, a spokesman for the state Attorney General’s Office.

If approved by a majority of voters on Nov. 2, Proposition 23 would suspend AB 32, California’s global warming law, until the state unemployment rate drops to 5.5 percent or lower for four consecutive quarters. In the past 20 years, that has only occurred three times.

Last week Brown, the Democratic nominee for governor, came out forcefully against Proposition 23. His opponent, Republican Meg Whitman, has not taken a position on the measure but has said the global warming law should be suspended for at least a year.

A Field Poll released July 9 found 36 percent of voters supporting the ballot measure.

AB 32 was signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006. The law requires that California’s greenhouse gas emissions be cut to 1990 levels by 2020, a drop of about 15 percent from current levels.

Opponents of the law say it will cost the state jobs and have little effect on worldwide emissions of greenhouse gases. Supporters say it will create jobs by boosting the state’s renewable energy and green technology industries, and will set an example for other states and Congress.

As the California Air Resources Board continues to write the specific rules that will take effect in 2012, the regulations are expected to fall hardest on the industries that burn the most fossil fuels, including oil refineries, power plants and cement kilns.

Two Texas oil companies, Valero and Tesoro, provided much of the funding to qualify Proposition 23 for the ballot. Environmental groups and Silicon Valley technology companies and investors are leading the opposition.

The original ballot label reads as follows:

“Suspends air pollution control laws requiring major polluters to report and reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming, until unemployment rate drops to 5.5 percent or less for full year.”

The new description says:

“Suspends implementation of air pollution control law (AB 32) requiring major sources of emissions to report and reduce greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming, until unemployment rate drops to 5.5 percent or less for full year.”

“Right or wrong, very few people tend to read these kind of ballot descriptions,” said Larry Gerston, a professor of political science at San Jose State University. “I don’t see how this by itself will have much difference one way or another.”

Paul Rogers has covered a wide range of issues for The Mercury News since 1989, including water, oceans, energy, logging, parks, endangered species, toxics and climate change. He also works as managing editor of the Science team at KQED, the PBS and NPR station in San Francisco, and has taught science writing at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz.

Otto Warmbier was arrested in January 2016 at the end of a brief tourist visit to North Korea. He had been medically evacuated and was being treated at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center when he died at age 22.